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Appcelerator, a mobile development platform provider, recently announced the launch of Titanium 2.0, which features new Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) and support for HTML5 mobile Web apps.
Appcelerator simplifies the process of integrating cloud services into mobile appsenabling not only Titanium developers but any native or mobile Web developer to quickly create, configure and deploy rich, cloud-connected applications. Developers can use ACS to leverage all of the new Titanium 2.0 features and capabilities or use it as stand-alone services in conjunction with developers choice of development environments, the company said.
Our goal is to help every enterprise and developer quickly and easily create rich, cloud-connected mobile apps for any device and any platform, Jeff Haynie, CEO of Appcelerator, said in a statement. Appcelerators Cloud Services enables developers to do three things really well: build, launch and scale full-featured mobile apps without the headache of building the backend infrastructure and services that are typically required. By opening the playing field for developers, we anticipate a broad rollout of mobile cloud services.
ACS helps companies integrate cloud services like push notification or check-ins into their mobile apps. Appcelerators new solution also enables app publishers using Objective-C, Java, PhoneGap, Sencha and HTML5 technologies to create and configure a server-side backend, add mobile app features without writing server code and easily deploy their cloud-connected app. Tasks that can require server programming or integration with multiple SDKs are performed through one simple interface. Developers need only choose which APIs to use, and Appcelerator takes care of deploying and maintaining a full server stack that includes a database, search engine, file storage and application logic, the company said.
Demand for Cloud-Connected Mobility Is Growing
Developer demand for cloud-connected mobility is on the rise. For instance, the Q1 2012 Appcelerator/IDC Mobile Developer Survey showed nearly 60 percent of developers either using or considering the use of cloud services in their mobile applications, while IDC also forecasts that in 2012, 80 percent of enterprise apps are expected to be deployed on cloud platforms.
ACS offers 15 popular cloud-based mobile features, designed to drive deep and extended user engagement. A sampling of new cloud services includes:
- User management: provide access, authentication and cross-platform controls.
- Photos: store, share, and publish photos from within the app.
- Photo collections: store, share and publish photo albums from within the app.
- Places (rich location storage): harness location to provide better search results and pointed ads, for example, without setting up GIS or a latitude/longitude server.
- Social integration: enable customer log-in and authentication using Facebook and Twitter.
Working with Appcelerators Titanium Platform and mobile cloud services has enabled our team to build really rich, feature-packed mobile and Web apps while collapsing the time to complete these projects from months to a few days, Aaron K. Saunders, founder and CTO of Clearly Innovative, an enterprise mobile solutions development shop, said in a statement. Previously, we would have had to hire experts in PHP or Ruby on Rails to build the entire backend in order to support popular mobile app services, such as user authentication, push notifications and check-ins. Appcelerator removes that hassle.
In addition, as part of the Titanium 2.0 release, Appcelerator also announced its mobile Web SDK release candidate. This means the mobile development platform provides an integrated hybrid, native and HTML5 solution. The product extends Titanium support beyond native iOS and Android mobile applications and into the HTML5 mobile Web to reach the broadest array of devices. By offering both Web and native development from a single platform, Appcelerator provides a path for app publishers across the fragmented mobile OS and browser ecosystem.
Appcelerator says there are more than 40,000 Titanium-built native apps in production today, and Appcelerator is giving developers an incentive to deploy those apps to the mobile Web using Titanium 2.0. For each Titanium app that is deployed to the mobile Web between now through June 1, Appcelerator is offering developers a chance to win $1,000. The company will randomly choose five apps and offer $1,000 to each winner. Full contest details are available at http://bit.ly/titaniumcontest.
Earlier this month, GlobalLogic, a provider of software product R&D services, announced plans to collaborate with Appcelerator to develop and deliver a suite of new mobile offerings and related services aimed at enterprises. As part of the partnership, GlobalLogic selected Appcelerator Titanium as its platform of choice for creating cloud-connected mobile apps for their Global 1,000 customers.
Together, the two companies will provide best-in-breed solutions and services for enterprises interested in extending applications onto mobile and tablet devices. Enterprise customers will now be able to leverage GlobalLogics R&D expertise to create Titanium-powered mobile applications that can be integrated with cloud-based services such as location, notifications, messaging, corporate data streams, storage, etc. In addition, independent software vendors (ISVs) will benefit from being able to draw on GlobalLogics deep expertise in design and engineering to develop Titanium extensions and reach Appcelerators worldwide community of 1.6 million developers.
Appcelerators ecosystem of customers, partners and developers will now have access to the leading development partner to help them get to market faster with mobile apps and extensions, Sandeep Johri, chief operating officer at Appcelerator, said in a statement. Were thrilled to leverage GlobalLogics deep R&D experience and global presence in order to drive enterprise mobility and further support our customers.
Meanwhile, a week after that partnership with GlobalLogic, Appcelerator became involved in an agreement with SAP. On April 10, SAP AG announced agreements with Adobe, Appcelerator and Sencha to provide users with an open mobile apps development framework for developing on the companys mobile platform.
By collaborating with Adobe, Appcelerator and Sencha, SAP will enable millions of developers to build mobile apps based on their choice of client architecturesfrom native to hybrid Web container to mobile Web. In the agreements with Adobe, Appcelerator and Sencha, SAP is enabling its developers to leverage Adobes PhoneGap, Appcelerator Titanium and Sencha Touch.
As a leader in the enterprise mobility market, SAP is constantly looking for innovative ways to serve our customers and partners, and advance our vision for this market, said Sanjay Poonen, president of Global Solutions at SAP, in a statement. By joining forces with leading mobile app development vendors like Adobe, Appcelerator and Sencha, we are making it easier for large communities of developers, in the millions, to innovate on our platform. We believe SAP is the only mobile platform provider delivering on the promise of an open platform architecture that supports innovative third-party development environments and tools, providing flexibility for customers to implement the right mobile app every time. SAP, customers, partners and the entire ecosystem now have a tremendous opportunity to rapidly produce millions of high-quality apps using the tool of their choice.